WMG / Samurai Jack - Jack

Index: Jack | Aku | Cult of Aku | Other Characters | Storyline | Crossovers

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Samurai Jack Himself

Within the time-frame of the pilot episode, Jack had other adventures before he fought Aku for the first time.

After all, he probably needed at least some real experience before he could take on an almighty demon god. Jack probably had other supernatural adventures during his many years of training, which probably involved slaying lots of demons and monsters, and encountering other magical beings.

Samurai Jack's real name is...

• Mako Iwamatsu. Because that would be just too perfect a homage for the late actor who voiced Aku so spectacularly.
• Genji Takahashi. Because it's an excellent Japanese alliteration of series creator Genndy Tartakovsky's name.
• Tokugawa Ieyasu. Because it seems Jack is destined to unite the broken world and topple the oppressive Aku. Why shouldn't he have the same name as the man who finally unified Japan?
• Ousu no Mikoto. As in the legendary hero later renamed Yamato Takeru, who also owned a magic sword.

The Grand Finale will end with The Reveal of Jack's real name.

Most likely when he is crowned as the new Emperor. Bonus points if the previous Emperor and Empress are also named.

• Jossed—Jack's real name isn't revealed in the Series Finale, nor the names of either of his parents. Also, he's not actually crowned Emperor in the finale—I assume that his parents are still the current rulers.

Jack's real name is never told for protection against magic.

One of the biggest questions about Samurai Jack is Jack's real name. Though this troper has no clue what it might be, I can suggest one reason it's never brought up: Protection. In a lot of fantasy and mystical tales (like The Kingkiller Chronicle), masters of magic often point out that knowing a person's name can grant a greater magical influence over them, like being able to influence their mind or control their body to afflict harm on itself, sometimes even to death. Jack's parents, being aware of this, never mention his name aloud when he's living with them (referring to him only as 'my son') so nobody else would know his name, and though Jack himself likely knows his name, he still keeps it hidden out of fear of Aku having greater influence over him. He's not invulnerable to Aku's dark magic, but it's an added protection that allows him to resist Aku's magic more than any other human being.

There will be a Brick Joke where Jack doesn't like to eat chicken.

Everything else gave him PTSD, why not "Chicken Jack"?

Jack will become a king and lead an army.

When you look at his future self you can see a gown and a red cape. It is possible that he had been crowned king.The red cape makes one recall the Spartans. So after Jack had freed most of the land from Aku's influence, he gets crowned King.He then proceeds to gather his forces to free even more land from Aku's influence. This causes Aku to retreat until he only has very little influence.Jack then will gather his forces (all of those he had helped, the dogs, the apes, the Scotsman, his wife, the Spartans...) and they prepare for a final attack at Aku's castle.Aku meanwhile does the same, drawing all the villains to him and giving them power upgrades. A battle of epic proportions ensues.

• However, in the Spartan Episode, the old king explicitly stated that he never saw Jack again and this was on his deathbed. He might have been at most a decade older than Jack when they met (if he's older at all) so unless Jack got thrown forward in time again, it's unlikely that Jack would have returned after the Spartan King died.
• Jack becoming 'king' and leader of an army made up of friends he made along the way to make a final attack.

Jack is not in the future, nor has he ever traveled through time.

Jack's father warns him that evil's greatest weapon is deceit. Aku in a desperate bid to escape certain doom casts a spell on Jack. Think which would be easier; sending Jack to the future OR making Jack believe he is in a dystopian future where Failure Is the Only Option. The entire series is taking place within a few seconds after the first battle with Aku, it just seems that long due to Jack's perspective. The entire point of the future "world" is to break Jack's spirit by taunting him with victory only to snatch it away from him at the last second. It's only Jack's determination that makes it appear like good ever triumphs in the dream world Aku painted for him. In a particularly cruel twist, Aku is using Jack's own pride and determination to trap him in this comatose state. As long as Jack is determined to find a way back to the past, he's doom to remain a pawn in Aku's game. Only by giving up the quest and realizing the facade can he escape the spell and awaken to defeat Aku.

• Alternatively, traveling back in time will represent Jack waking up.
• A different alternative, Jack could have been under an illusion that, instead of speeding up his perception and lasting only a few seconds, he's viewing his family and friends as enemies from the future, and every time he's attacked Aku with a potentially lethal strike, it was an illusion placed over one of his most trusted associates.

Jack is unconsciously preventing his success.

There have been several opportunities for Jack to get back, but he always ends up staying to help someone else. He's realized that if the timeline included his victory then Aku would no longer be around. Since Aku still exists in the future that mean Jack either failed to ever return or died in the past before he could defeat Aku. Since Jack doesn't want either to happen, he finds ways to justify staying. The scene that shows an older Jack making it through the portal (a vision Jack never got to see) happens after Jack decides to Screw Destiny or someone explains to Jack the concept of alternate timelines.

• Possibly, he wants to destroy the Aku in this time before he goes back to destroy the one in his home time, just to make sure that the future has hope too.
• Or Jack knows about Alternate Timelines and therefore thinks going back in time will leave this future intact, so even if goes back and defeats Aku, the Aku in the future will still be alive, so he's waiting to go back until he defeats this Aku first.
• More grimly, we don't know for a fact that Alternate Timelines are possible in the world of Samurai Jack, and though he isn't a physicist or sci fi buff, Jack may well realize this (at least subconsciously). So, if he goes into the past and kills Aku there, he may end up erasing everyone in the future from existence. Even if it saves millions of people suffering in the present/past, Jack will probably justly feel uncomfortable at the prospect of unmaking everyone he's befriended in the future.
• Alternatively, Jack doesn't know any of that, but is consciously preventing his success because either a) his success will cause/allow someone else to suffer a fate which Jack could prevent, which he knows he could not live with on his conscience or b) he feels he isn't ready to return: if Aku snatches/destroys the portal at the last second, then it is proof to Jack that he isn't strong enough to defeat Aku in the past. Aku (both past and future), on the other hand, DOES know about the implications of time travel, and is saving the "killing me will negate the future you fought so hard to protect" bombshell for when Jack is about to kill him a second time.
• Alternatively alternatively maybe—despite all his talk—Jack honestly doesn't believe he can defeat Aku. That "You were prepared to sacrifice. I was not." line fits with this: he doesn't want the monks to die to send him back unless he's damn sure it won't be in vain.
• Jack at Aku's castle actually does happen in the finale for the comic, but we don't see how it ends. It's non-canon, however.

Jack is insane.

Jack was never sent to the future. Rather, he was born in the future, and being one of the best warriors in the world, decided to create a persona with which to fight Aku. However, living in the dystopian future has driven Jack completely insane, and caused him to believe his own back story as a way of disassociating himself with a reality he hates. The rest is history.

Jack never existed.

The entire series is a series of stories told by the parents of the children in Aku's future to give them hope. Jack never existed, and Aku rules unchallenged forever.

• A grim but very interesting idea which would make Jack kind of a religious figure.
• Explains how Aku is a Card-Carrying Villain, too: If Jack is a Jesus figure in Purgatory, that makes Aku a Satan figure. Odds are that we're only seeing one side of the story, and a version actually told by Aku paints Jack as a Well-Intentioned Extremist at best.
• Then the Aku's Fairy Tales episode could be a glimpse into the "real" world.

Jack will be battle his way backwards in time.

It goes like this: Jack ended up finding a way to go into the past, but only a few hundred or thousand years. With a so long to go back, he will be forced to defeat Aku each time, slowly removing the stain of Aku as he goes until he can destroy him at the source, appearing in the time when Aku was either an unthinking darkness or trapped in the tree.

Jack won't return to his own time.

Assuming we get the movie this time, Jack will have two options He can return to his own time and fight Aku, or he can fight Aku in the present. At first, he'll be on his way to do the latter, but will realize that either A) the future world he's currently living in will still exist, and that Aku, having learned this, will actually change his mind about time travel, and ENCOURAGE Jack to do this, or B) The future world will cease to exist, as will all the people he helped, some of whom will never even have evolved due to the lack of Aku. Ultimately, he'll decide that, however tragic the enslavement of his people, and Aku's reign over Earth may have been, they aren't worth abandoning/sacrificing the future for, and he'll ditch his last chance to go to his past to have an epic final battle against Aku, and completely destroy him. The last clip we'll see is Jack's allies celebrating the defeat of Aku, and Jack smiling sadly, and walking away. Cue tears.

• Jossed. Jack does indeed return to his own time.

If the show continued, Jack would have been a Tragic Hero.

Also, his weakness, his fatal flaw, would be a love of the fairer sex. In at least one episode, Jack was almost stolen away by a beautiful fairy woman. In the same episode, multiple enemies came and Jack took care of them easily, but the beautiful woman he almost fell for. I also recall another episode featuring a female bounty hunter who almost seduced him. If the show continued, Aku would have taken the form of a beautiful woman to trick Jack.

• Unless I'm misunderstanding something, that's already happened in Season 1.
• In Season 5, Jack does wind up falling in love with someone who's supposed to be his enemy. She's Aku's daughter, to be exact.

"Jack" is in purgatory.

He will never make it home, but will forever being haunted by its closeness, being literally in his grasp (the episode where he rescued a fairy, from a gargoyle, who could wish him home).
He can never be killed, he's forced to walk an eternity as an invincible person constantly wanted by the authorities (the episode where his own sword could not be used to kill him, in the hands of evil.
His god is vengeful for him letting Aku go. I believe it will all end with his god picking him up on the final day of his purgatory, and hurling him for eons more into time where he will land before The Great and Powerful Aku, stripped of his defenses and skills, and will be used how his new lord sees fit.

• And yes I do admire Aku, his color scheme, his voice, his wretchedness. If anyone should enslave the human race I'd be glad for it to be him.
  • Ia Ia
    • Also Jossed. Jack makes it home.
    • Unfortunately for you, sir, it is jossed. Jack was victorious in the end and Aku is nothing more than dust now. So sorry to burst your little sadist bubble.
    • Is the last part of this thing said entirely as a joke? A strange joke... but a joke nonetheless? I sincerely hope so...

Jack's Beard of Sorrow and armor indicate an Evil Costume Switch, and he will adapt something closer to his classic look by the end of the season.

The writers have stated Jack has become a darker character, more like Aku during the timeskip, which is more than evident from the helmet he wears in the promos. Among the threads throughout the series will be Jack slowly reclaiming his lost self and, by the final battle with Aku, will return to his white robes and shaven face.

• Jossed. Jack's change of appearance is because he's become a depressed mess of his former self, not from turning evil.

Jack will finally return to the past, but it will be short lived.

Some factor, I'm guessing multiverse timelines, will bring Jack back home after finally defeating Aku. But because he can't actually undo the damage Aku has done (or maybe the child listed above) Jack will decide he must help rebuild the world Aku destroyed. He'll return the past just long enough to see his family, particularly his father, and tell them goodbye one last time.

• Jossed. Jack gets to stay in his own era.

After all he's gone through, Jack will finally earn his happy ending.

...because many fans will be disappointed if the series ends any other way.

• Confirmed... more or less.

When Jack realizes he has to get his sword back, he is subjected to more PTSD attacks when he returns to the cavern where he lost it but has to make peace with what happened in order to successfully retrieve it.

• Leading up to an epic He's Back! moment.

Jack's hallucinations aren't just a result of PTSD.

They're a result of Aku casting a spell on Jack to attack his mind. This will be a long term strategy in order to finally kill Jack by weakening his resolve to make him easy pickings.

• Partially confirmed; the Omen was clearly not just in his head, as Ashi was able to see (and fight) him.

Rather than it actually being a literal conventional time travel portal, Jack will take a time portal that is actually a Reset Button.

When he goes through, he will find that he is younger and actually much farther in the past than he expected (expecting to return right after Aku sent his past self to the future). With this time, he can further prepare for his battle against Aku and/or anticipate what Aku will try to do in their fight, remembering the things he did last time.

• Jossed. Jack returns to his own time a few seconds after he left.

Jack takes a time portal that sends him much farther back in time than his original era.

...allowing him to defeat Aku when he is more weaker, such as eliminating the piece of surviving primordial darkness during the time the gods fought it or just any time before he was born, really.

Jack will never return to the past

Instead he will defeat Aku by flinging him into the future - and it'll end on a remake of the intro where instead of Jack wandering a dark future being hunted evil bounty hunters it will be Aku wandering a righteous future being hunted by heroes.

• Granted everyone would prefer Jack returns to the past, that would be quite the Funny Moment.
  • Jossed. Jack returns to his own time and is greeted as a hero.

The reason Jack's gi, despite being destroyed constantly, is always replaced in time for the next episode.

It's because the magic sword generates new copies for him. In "The Birth of Evil, Part 2", Jack's father was wearing tatters until he picked up the sword for the first time, and was suddenly wearing armor. It's real armor and it protects him in the big fight. Given any downtime between episodes, Jack puts his sword down to rest and upon picking it up is re-clothed. If Jack had grown up wearing armor instead, or if he ever gets very sincerely attached to a new outfit, the sword would make copies of that.

• This is actually confirmed in "Episode XCVIII". When the gods reward Jack with his old sword, they also give him his old robes and hairstyle. So Jack's katana really does have the power to... magically create clothing out of thin air.

If Jack ever does get back to the past and fix everything, then the new timeline will look more like ours.

The ending will flash-forward to the future, which will now look like what we have in the real-life present (21st century), with modern culture and technology, yet few or no weird characters (aliens, monsters, robots, etc.) running around. For example, the Scotsman will be dressed more casually and have a normal prosthetic leg.

• Alternatively, the new future will look like the stereotypical vision of technologically advanced utopian societies from more idealistic science fiction.

Jack didn't lose his sword - the sword left him.

In the first episode, Jack's father chastises him for putting too much faith in the sword, and that his mind has to clear the way.He was already starting to lose it before he lost the sword. He was already close to the Despair Event Horizon, and saw less reason to keep on going. So the sword no longer found him worthy. Once he recalls his old lessons and regains his fighting spirit, the sword will return.

• Confirmed. Jack lost his sword after he killed three innocent animals that were turned into monsters by Aku, due to his intense rage at Aku clouding his judgement. He later regains the sword through a spiritual journey.

Jack will get his sword and white robe again, and shave to look just as he did from the beginning of the series.

He has fallen into using armor and guns to show his cynicism and pragmatism in using any tool or weapon. Should he get his sword again, he'll also get a make-over to his original appearance, to show that He's Back! and out of his self-destructive funk.

• Some promotional images show Jack is back to his classic look, so confirmed?
• Confirmed in Season 5 Episode 7.

Jack will dual-wield holy swords.

He lost his sword, forged with his father righteous energy. But Jack has a lot of righteous energy inside of him. So the gods will make a new sword for him. THEN he will recover his father's sword.

• Either that or the Scotsman will let him borrow his magic Claymore.
  • Or if the earlier WMG about the Scotsman dying is true Jack will take up his Claymore in his honor.

If Aku's aware of this, he's fully in favor. Because the irony of the Foolish Samurai being done in with his own flesh and blood raised from birth to hate him is too good to pass up. Jack's already likely to suffer a BSOD from realizing they're not robots, but actual humans that he may have just killed in self-defense. So even if he does overcome them Aku's free to drop the bombshell that he just unwittingly killed his own children on him and break his psyche even further, making it a win-win in Aku's book.

Ashi will be the only one to last long enough to learn that Jack is her father, which combined with combined with her implied struggles staying loyal to Aku and wondering if he's really the force for good that she was raised to believe will cause her to undergo a Heel–Face Turn and join Jack.

Heck, it doesn't even have to be one of those ideas. It could easily have involved getting his DNA other ways, sort of like how they got Bruce Wayne's blood for Terry McGinnis. Setting that up could have also been used to genetically enhance them, or at least ensure that setuplets would be born.

• Jossed. None of this ever happens.

Jack has a modest Healing Factor.

The series seems to be going out of its way to show that injuries do have a real effect. However, Jack bleeds way more than anyone possibly could and survives, and his injury seems to heal fairly quick after he stitches it. Maybe being ageless isn't the only side-effect of the time portal.

Jack will have to make a choice.

Jack will eventually find a portal to the past and finally have his chance to strike down and kill Aku, but the problem? Doing so will erase Ashi from existence (as she was born specifically to kill Jack). Jack will have to choose between going to the past and saving his family, but also erasing Ashi entirely; or killing Aku in the future and having to go through not only rebuilding the entire decimated world, but living forever, outliving his allies and never being able to meet his mother and father in the afterlife.

• Jossed. Ashi sends him (and herself) through the portal she creates before he can think it over.

The series will have a Bittersweet Ending, where Jack doesn't return to the past.

Jack will realize that changing the past may erase Ashi (and countless other good people) from existence. Not willing to take this risk, he personally turns down the Guardian's offer of using the time portal, simply concentrates on eliminating Aku in the future, and he reluctantly lets go of his dreams of ever returning home to live in peace and happiness.

Jack will spend another 50 years trying to restore peace and stability to Earth; after all, killing Aku won't just improve the world overnight. After Jack has decided that he's finally satisfied with his work, he will go out samurai style: he stabs himself in the stomach, before an elderly Ashi beheads him on his request. Now, Jack can reunite with his parents in the afterlife.

• Jossed. The series has a different variety of bittersweet ending.

Jack's subconscious of himself was really Mad Jack.

Jack had a whole episode in the first season dedicated to teaching him the importance of control with one's emotions. He flew into anger fighting all the bounty hunters, and Aku decided to turn his anger against him. Once he realized that Mad Jack was born from his anger though, Jack calmed down and quelled him back inside.

Fast forward to the future, and he flies off the handle after Aku destroys the last time portal. He takes its out on three corrupted sheep, and then loses his sword as the thought sinks in. The episode he tries to finally get his sword back, he's told he's unbalanced, and his inner anger lashes out. We have seen and heard this subconscious of Jack act up, whether it's to give up, take the easy way (like abandon Ashi) or even mock him on killing one of the Daughters of Aku. But it becomes clear that his anger allowed it to fester and weigh in heavily on his conscience, and Mad Jack wanted to not kill Jack by Aku's manipulations, but to control Jack and have him act on impulse. Once Jack realized this, he quickly reigned it in and allowed himself to become spiritually whole once again.

Jack will never get the chance to return home.

Given how much shit that Jack's been through, what with constantly being forced to give up his own personal happiness to try to save the world from Aku, not to mention that Aku has (quite likely) been honest about eliminating all the time portals, at this point it would seem forced and sappy if Jack's wishes of finally getting a perfect happy ending came true. Jack will probably just have to settle on living in a post-Aku future.

• Again, Jossed.

The bearded Jack seen in the Guardian's time portal was symbolic.

It may be jarring to see Jack restored to his classic look when he appeared to be aged and bearded in the vision the Guardian saw at the end of "Jack and the Travelling Creatures", but it's possible that the imagery was meant to signify that Jack wouldn't be allowed through the time portal until after he's gained a lot of experience from years of trying to vanquish Aku.

• Jossed. The Guardian's portal was destroyed along with all the others, and the Guardian apparently died defending it.

Jack is the Messiah.

When Jack was born (the exact day Aku was defeated), The Emperor saw that something of immense power was underway. He saw Jack and instantly knew his son would become a prosperous warrior, worthy of wielding the magic sword. The sword signifies the purity and strength of humanity and that made Jack humanity's Chosen One, and the Emperor identified Jack as such, immediately making a plan in case Aku was to ever return. A plan to send his son across the lands, training to one day defeat Aku (this verse's version of Satan) and any other super-powerful villains who may appear.

Jack will eventually return to the past, but...

He's going to very mentally messed up by everything that Aku and his minions have done. Like his girlfriend turning out to be the hellspawn of Aku.

• Jossed, probably. The final scene implies that Jack is coming to terms with everything he's been through and has hope for the future.

Jack will break the fourth wall at the very end of the series

He'll thank the viewers for seeing his long journey through to the very end.

• Jossed, although that would have been cool.

Samurai Jack is STILL immortal

If the initial time travel (or interruption of the attempt during the Goat Incident) is what caused Jack to stop aging again, going back in time shouldn't reset his clock. Given that he's kept the memories, he probably exists outside of time's effect now, so he'll probably still the The Ageless and will grow many, many beards that will come and go.

It won't suck for him though, because we know he's a person who gets along well with people from many nations. Thus, he may end up being a wanderer throughout the ages still, but no longer for a mission, but rather to see how the world changes without Aku's influence—and maybe cleaning up some evils that Aku had no hand in, like a certain haunted house.

• It would make sense, if Aku's time travel magic displaced Jack from time, and had that effect, I'd imagine using the same spell to send him back would have had the same effect on him.

Jack is a polyglot.

It's never explained how an ancient samurai from Japan can understand everyone in the future. Maybe it's just for the viewer's convenience or maybe Aku imposed their language on everyone. But Jack has also trained all across the world with many different cultures and had to inevitably pick up many languages along the way. In the end he became so good at learning new languages that after a few initial misunderstandings (one of which gave him his name), he quickly became accustomed to the way future people speak.

Jack and Aku

Jack is Aku.

What, don't look at me like this! There's a possibility that Jack got corrupted by himself, thus, creating a Time Paradox and putting so many different timed and placed characters in an unique setting. Jack/Aku just had ripped the fabric of Time and Space apart, somehow or another. First hint is his true name never being revealed. Maybe The Scotsman went through some rip and is the true hero, as he'll save Jack from being corrupted through Power of Friendship.

• This unregistered troper went to this page expecting to see just that. He was not displeased. I think that maybe Aku is Jack Evil-Side (that was created by Aku in a episode). Maybe when Jack walks through a portal (or before that), he will be divide into two forms. He "normal side" and his "evil side". While his "normal side" manages to return to the past to defeat Aku, his "evil side" manages to return to the beginning of time (maybe by the use of some really powerful Black Magic and turns into the giant black mass that is shown in the beginning of the story.
• Alternatively, Jack is an alternate universe Sentry, and Aku is his Superpowered Evil Side, the Void.
• It's also possible that Jack will get back to the past and defeat Aku, whose last evil act will be turning Jack into a New Aku, who'll be the one who created the Bad Future. New Aku's actions through the series were his way to be sure Jack will get back to the past to become him.
• As showcased in the Season 5 trailer, Jack cannot die of natural causes. He's not human anymore. He's become immortal thanks to time-travel, even when he grows a beard. There were two episodes that focused on the Samurai's evil side, the second was born of a direct infection from Aku. Jack's story is basically a story as old as time: the eternal struggle against your own inner demon.
  • Actually, although Jack cannot age to death, he's technically still human.
• His existence as the evil one is a Predestination Paradox. Travelling forwards in time is easy, travelling backwards, is dangerous. If he succeeds in getting to the past, he'll cause a Time Crash, Jack will become a chaotic mess that the gods have to deal with in the beginning of time. And his remains impact Earth, destroying the dinosaurs, causing untold misery and suffering and, oh man, this troper is getting depressed just thinking about the profound implications of this WMG.
• His father's impact on him cannot be understated, as a chaotic mess he was unable to take on a monstrous form, until his father attacked him. And to top it off, the magical sword is a manifestation of Jack/Aku's father's love. His father's love for him literally is the only thing that can hurt him.
• Jack might have been corrupted by Set himself. Seeing the gods send the Samurai back in time for the greater good, the trickster deity interfered, transformed Jack into (mindless chaos) Aku, thus made the warrior his second in command, that spawned the whole predestination paradox. This would explain:
  • Why the minions of Set obeyed a command from Aku.
  • Why the archers, corruptions of Aku, strongly resembled Set.
  • Why the gods cannot destroy Aku on Earth - they're trying to save the fallen Jack.
    • Jossed. The finale has no indication that any of this is true.

Jack can't return home until he's defeated Aku in the future.

If he returns to the past and defeats Aku there, the future will likely still exist as an alternate timeline, to be tormented by Aku for eternity. Jack will not be allowed to travel back until he destroys Aku in this time too, to give hope to the future as well as the past.

• Alternatively, Jack will only be allowed to return home once Aku is dead simply because Aku won't stop finding new ways to screw Jack out of reaching a working portal until one of them dies.
• Alter-alternatively, by Jack killing Aku in the future, he will have no problems defeating Aku in the past, as Aku's powers and influence seem to have gotten stronger over time. In other words, Jack killing Future Aku means he'll defeat a stronger opponent than Past Aku, thus Past Aku won't be as hard as a fight as his Future self - basically, Aku will, himself, have accidentally given Jack the training he needs to beat him in the past. Yeah, Mind Screw I know.
  • Not so far fetched. Dragon Ball Z's Future Trunks did the exact same thing. By the time the Cell Saga was done, he had enough power in his own time to effortlessly dispatch Androids 17, 18 and Pre-Transformation Cell. Jack will know all of Aku's best tricks before he does. Maybe the sword was forged with a mental suggestion that Aku send his foe forward, and the slashing transmitted the suggestion. Odin and his homies know how to play Aku.
    • The theory about Jack's experiences in the future making him a better fighter in the past is confirmed; once he returns, he destroys Aku easily.

Jack will stop Aku in the future and the past.

But he'll learn that there are hundreds, if not thousands of alternate dimensions. Driven by his desire to ensure that no one ever suffers Aku's terror, Jack will find a means to endlessly travel time and space, fighting Aku for all eternity. Yea, definitely a bit of a downer ending, but it would show how bad ass Jack is if he were willing to sacrifice any chance of peace just to ensure that Aku never exists in any dimension.

• Jack's not immortal.
  • You say that like he actually cares. If he realizes his own mortality, he'll find a successor, or have a son.
  • Besides, this is Jack we're talking about. He can jump good and fight armies and only get a little winded. Who's to say that Jack might not be able to live to be a Really 700 Years Old man?
  • Potentially canonically possible, even, given "Jack and the Monks" - one of the monks from his own time manages to survive until Aku's future through sheer spiritual adeptness.
• I could agree with the first idea, only a little bit TMNTized. Jack will find Aku prime, where Aku is the original form of himself, and through all the powers he has obtained will destroy Aku with his sword. The reason he remains to fight this particular Aku is to test his ability with the most powerful foe he has ever faced, so that he can be a steel trap when it come to Aku prime.
  • Zig-zagged. Jack destroys Aku in both eras without alternate dimensions being brought up.

Jack has in fact traveled through the portals.

But with Aku being a trickster not one has successfully sent him to the correct time, and most simply sent him to different places not far in time to let Aku prepare better. This is a pretty optimistic view of the series meaning jack has beaten Aku more times than what we have seen.

• Jossed. Aku destroyed all the time portals before Jack could use them.

Jack will seal Aku within himself.

The last time Aku was fought, Jack's father was only able to weaken him and have him sealed, but not for very long. Given all the damage Aku has caused each time he's come back, Jack would seal Aku within himself, prepared to keep him in check for all eternity if it's required. This would also play into the names of both characters: Jack + Aku = Jaaku, the Japanese word for "evil".

• This sort of already happened in one episode, when a piece of Aku got inside Jack and infected him, slowly transforming him into an Aku clone. It doesn't sound like a good idea to repeat this incident with a similar idea.
  • Jossed.

Jack has achieved a partial victory over Aku.

Aku is not seen in the first episode, and does not know Jack has lost his sword, the one weapon that can slay him. In fact, the Daughters (whom he is never seen communicating with) seem to indicate that the efforts he is taking to eliminate Jack have been stepped up. It is thus possible that Aku has been hurt or imprisoned somewhere and cannot influence the world the way he used to, possibly due to an unseen battle with Jack.

• Especially if, at that time, Aku was actually reduced to a form smaller than his mouse form he used to escape in "Jack and the Zombies", causing Aku to never leave his lair ever, in fear that should he encounter Jack outside again, he'll be vanquished.

When Jack deals the final blow on Aku in the past, the scene will suddenly cut to the future, where everything is fading away into the light.

• Jossed. We never see what the Aku-free future is like.

Aku is aware that Jack cannot age and is taking advantage of it.

While both immortal, Aku's mind seems a lot better adapted to the stress of eternity than Jack's is. Once Aku figured it out he slowed down his provocations of the one man whose blade can harm him (hence 40 'episodes' in 50 years), simply waiting out his eventual mental collapse.

• Semi-confirmed; he knows Jack is The Ageless, but this has propelled Aku himself dangerously close to the Despair Event Horizon.

Even if Jack defeats Aku, he's too broken to go back to a normal life.

Or at least it will take him some time.

• He won't be alone. He'll have an entire kingdom of people who have been enslaved for so many years. They've had their share of hell, if not to the same degree as Jack. As his subjects, they'll be more than happy to go through the healing process with him.

Jack will get back to the past and destroy Aku, however...

He will not survive the final battle, perhaps because Future Aku decided to come back as well to protect his own past self, or something like that. Jack won't be around to see it, but at least he made the world a better place...

• Zig-zagged. Jack defeats Aku and survives, but has to deal with a different bittersweet ending.

Jack and Aku will make a bargain

When the inevitable confrontation happens, both parties will acknowledge they are tired of the unending battle, and Jack will make a bargain with Aku to return to the past.

• What kind of bargain though, exactly? Aku had his reasons for not wanting Jack to get back to the past.
• Jossed.

Jack killed Aku at the end of "Jack Learns to Jump Good".

The rest of the series is Aku's, you guessed it, Dying Dream. It would also explain why the episode ends so abruptly.

Aku will snap out of his funk and concentrate all his efforts on destroying Jack.

Jack and Aku have constantly been shown as foils to each other, and since Jack is gradually overcoming his doubts over defeating Aku and returning home, there's no reason for Aku to not get over his moping about his plan of destroying all the time portals and letting Jack die of old age not working. Also, it would be rather boring if the Grand Finale had Jack engage in battle against an apathetic and worn-out Aku.

• Confirmed.

Aku himself will be the one to send Jack back to the past.

There are no time portals left, but Aku himself possesses the ability to send others through time, as that is how Jack ended up in the future in the first place. In his final confrontation with (future) Aku, Jack will somehow trick or force him into returning Jack to his own time.

• Well, Aku only destroyed all known time portals. There are possibly a few that he missed, like maybe the Guardian's portal.
  • "Episode C" confirms that Aku did not miss the Guardian's portal; he killed the Guardian and destroyed it. However, Ashi uses the powers she got from Aku to create a portal for both Jack and herself, so Aku is indirectly responsible for Jack's return to the past.

Aku will LET Jack kill him.

When Jack arrives to finally face Aku, Aku will simply let Jack kill him, tired of years of trying to kill each other with no success on both parts. Jack will be shocked by this, obviously.

• Jossed.

Jack, Ashi, and the Aku Cult

The Daughters of Aku are actually the daughters of Jack.

The mother was impregnated with them in one of two outcomes; either Jack had a one-night-stand with her and then had to leave to keep her safe from any minions of Aku who might be after him (unaware that she was an Aku cultist), or she outright took advantage of him.

• They likely took his blood and used science to make children from that.
  • Jossed. Turns out they are really Aku's daughters.

Ashi is Jack's daughter, made from extracted DNA from his blood/hair/etc.

One episode of Justice League revealed that Terry McGinnis was truly Bruce Wayne's biological son, made from a blood sample that Amanda Waller had collected.

• Similarly, the cult of Aku managed to get a hold of something that contains Jack's DNA (blood/hair/skin/etc.) after one of his battles. They used this sample to extract his DNA, which was then somehow used to make him the biological father to the Daughters of Aku.
  • Jossed. Ashi's paternal DNA comes from... Aku.

Jack will Mercy Kill the Daughters.

After he realizes that they were never taught to know any better but he's unable to redeem/save them, he kills them (and they're okay with it), allowing them peace in death.

• Jack does kill off all the Daughters (except for Ashi), though it was all self-defense in the heat of combat. The Daughters had no intention of giving up their quest to kill Jack.

Jack will fight and kill the Daughters of Aku.

It won't be a Mercy Kill as in one of the above theories, but a Killing in Self-Defense. Jack is enough of a hero (even after taking a level in cynicism) that this necessary, unavoidable act will give him a Heroic BSoD and he'll Cry for the Devil. (Extra points if Jack tries to Take a Third Option, such as Break Them by Talking, but fails.) In a related theory, the Daughter Jack is forced to kill will be Ashi, who is being differentiated from her sisters to set her up as a Sacrificial Lion.

• Both confirmed and zig-zagged. Jack kills one of the Daughters in combat, and then kills five more, leaving only Ashi alive.

The differences between how Jack and the Daughters were raised will lead to Jack's victory over them.

Jack and the Daughters were both raised their entire lives to be the best warriors possible, but there's a crucial difference: Jack was raised as a person and the only hope of defeating Aku, the Daughters were only raised to beat Jack. This means their thinking will most likely be far less flexible than Jack's, as they are singleminded towards that one goal. Jack, in contrast, was raised both like any child, allowed to play, make friends, and learn. That contrast likely means Jack is a far more inventive and creative person, on top of actually giving him something to fight for. While the Daughters rival him in skill, Jack will win by being more creative, clever, and inventive than they are.

• Confirmed somewhat. The Daughters, having lived in the temple their whole lives, are so sheltered that they can't even identify common animals like deer. Lacking in any skills besides their training, as well having no real family/team loyalty to each other, Jack kills them all (except Ashi) in a ninja-style ambush.

Jack will save Ashi's life

Ashi will find herself in serious danger, and Jack will save her life. She will be completely taken by surprise, but this will prompt a Heel–Face Turn regardless. The description for the upcoming Episode 4 heavily implies this.

• Confirmed.

Jack will spare Ashi, which will prompt a Heel–Face Turn

There has to be a reason why the writers bothered to name only one of the assassins AND give her a personality beyond a mindless killer. Now that we show the mental toll a human death has on Jack, he'll be forced to cut down the remaining sisters until Ashi is left, but he won't go through with putting her down either. This might cause Ashi to question everything she's been taught and cease her pursuit of Jack.

• Confirmed. Jack ends up killing all of the Daughters except for Ashi. However she still wanted to kill him, until she makes a sudden Heel Realization.

The series will end with Ashi taking Jack's place.

The advance publicity says that this will be the end of Jack's story, but nothing about whether he finally defeats Aku or not. Maybe the reason Ashi is emerging as an individual is to set up the following ending: Jack dies (possibly through a Heroic Sacrifice), is somehow incapacitated, or Ascends to a Higher Plane of Existence, while Ashi (who has undergone the Heel–Face Turn mentioned in one of the above theories) replaces him as the one person who can stop Aku, possibly as a Sequel Hook to a follow-up series. Might involve a Passing the Torch scene and/or a literal Take Up My Sword moment.

• Or alternate timelines could come into effect; Jack returns to his past and stops Past!Aku, while Ashi takes up the fight against Future!Aku.
  • Ashi would need a weapon to kill Aku. That is, assuming that she even takes up the hypothetical task of fighting him.
    • Jossed. None of this happens.

Ashi will be Jack's successor, but not because Jack died.

Rather she will become his apprentice, and after Jack destroys Future Aku, he'll entrust the world to her care when he returns to the past to kill Past Aku; allowing Jack to finally return home with peace of mind, that the future world he defended for so long will be in good hands.

• It makes sense. Just because Jack has killed the Bad Future's Evil Overlord, it doesn't mean that centuries/millennia worth of Aku's tyranny would be reversed overnight. Someone would still have to work hard to restore peace to the world.
  • Jossed. Poor Ashi...

Jack will recover his sword and has a rematch with Ashi with it, and he will realize that she is more than meets the eye when the sword refuses to harm her.

If I remember correctly, one of the divine sword's purposes is to defend the innocent. When Jack fought the sisters, he did without his sword and use conventional weapons. However, if he recovers his sword in a future episode and fights with Ashi (who most likely survived her fall) again, he will realize that Ashi is not the cold-blooded killer by nature as she seems when the sword refuses to deliver the killing blow, because the sword realize that Ashi is ultimately just a victim of her mother's manipulations.

• Despite Ashi's tragic background, that does not equal innocence. Brainwashed or not, she has been trying to kill Jack with malicious intent. Jack's sword would not prevent its user from committing justified self-defense.
• Possible self-defense to the point of just disarming Ashi, then? As I said, it could just leaves her harmless and unable to harm Jack but not deliver the killing blow should Jack tries it. Though it's kinda convoluted now that I think about it. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.
• Jossed. And when Jack later does fight an (Aku-possessed) Ashi with his sword, the blade can cut through her demonic body.

Jack and Ashi falling in love is a setup for a Bittersweet Ending at best.

If Jack stands victorious at the end of the series and manages to return to the past after all, the only way this can be a happy ending as of Episode 8's developments is if multiverse theory is in effect. Otherwise the moment Jack slays Aku in the past, Ashi and everything after the event of Aku's defeat will cease to exist. Jack will be stuck in a world that though saved will now be very alien from all his time in the future, and the one person he fell in love with will be gone.

• Confirmed, sadly, although Jack seems to be dealing with it.

Jack's love for Ashi will eventually help him to find love again.

It makes me think of what Lou Pickles told his sons at the beginning of Rugrats in Paris, Lou tells his sons, Stu and Drew, that his love for Trixie (his first wife and Stu and Drew's mom) was what ultimately helped to find love again. Jack will eventually find love with another woman, and a part of me imagines that Jack's Second Love will understand how he feels about losing someone you're in love with—plus, I'm sure that Ashi would want Jack to eventually move on. Also, another part of me imagines that Jack's Second Love will be his old childhood friend from "Jack Remembers the Past." Here's some fanart of what Jack's friend might look like as an adult◊.

• On another note, I also imagine that Jack's parents would want their son (an only child) to get married and have children—not just to have heirs to continue their royal lineage, but also because they really want to have grandkids.

Jack's Family and Other Characters

Jack's father is Emperors Tenji, Kobun, and Tenmu; and Jack's mother is Empress Jito.

Because Tenji and Jito moved the capital from Asuka to Otsu and then from Asuka to Fujiwara-kyo, events that could be explained with Aku's attacks. Jack's father appearing with three different names is due to Aku's reign after the first attack making a mess with the records.

Jack's father actually made things better instead of worse.

Alright, Jack's father is the one who gave Aku sentience and a physical form, yes. But while this may seem like a Nice Job Breaking It, Hero, it may have actually changed the situation for the better. Think about it, the formless evil that became Aku was slowly spreading out from where it landed, consuming all in its path, possibly consuming the entire planet if given enough time. By giving Aku a physical form, it changed Aku's intent from destruction of everything to conquest. Yes, the world under Aku's rule sucks, but at least it can support life and people, and animals, have somewhat adapted to it. Along with that, Aku's new form is fightable, dangerous and powerful, but something that can be outwitted and fought instead of simply destroying everything in its path. So despite apparently worsening the situation, Jack's father may have in fact improved it.

• In other words, by giving Aku a physical form, he was bound before he was even banished into that tree.

Jack became a father at some point during the Time Skip.

There are a lot of places the show can go with this. Possibilities include:

• Jack gave up his journey for a while and attempted to settle down with a wife and child. Aku, at some point, killed his wife and child and thrust him back into action.
• Jack learns of a child who becomes an ally to him.
• Jack abandoned a wife and child at some point, since he was always intent on destroying Aku's future anyway and his actions would render the child nonexistent. The child would have some heavy baggage to deal with as a result, possibly even taking Aku's side.
• Ultimately jossed. His interactions with Ashi suggest that he's still a virgin.

If Jack returns to the past, he will engage his childhood girl friend.

She could be the reason that he's avoided any romance in the future.

When Jack defeats Aku, he will marry his childhood girlfriend and name their first daughter...

"...Ashi."

The Horseman that Jack keeps seeing in his hallucinations is future Jack.

The Horseman is what happens to Jack if he goes down a dark path, essentially, he becomes an evil tyrant like Aku, but much worse.

• Jossed.

Jack will fight and kill more non-robotic, organic enemies in Season 5.

After slaying 6/7 of the Daughters of Aku, he'll gore more humans, animals, aliens, demons, monsters, etc. that will bleed lots more red (or other colored) blood.

• Confirmed. And some creatures do bleed blood that's not red.

Jack will gain a group of companions to travel and fight alongside him.

Jack is in a serious funk right now, and clearly desires companionship. Perhaps the encouragement of a group of true companions is what will bring him out of his miserable state and restore all of his determination.

• Partially confirmed, but he only travels with Ashi.

Jack's spirit will be reignited when he sees the Scotsman again.

Jack will see that the Scotsman is now a ghost, but that hasn't stopped him. This will inspire Jack to continue the fight while he's still alive.

• I can imagine it now. Jack first thinks he's just another hallucination come to taunt him for his failures, only for The Scotsman to pull a ghostly Get A Hold Of Yourself Man and tell him the opposite. That Jack kicks butt and that he's done more than he ever knew. And when he's complaining about the loss of his original sword, Ghost!Scotsman will lend him his broken sword to help him find his original sword, to remind Jack of what it's like to wield such a weapon after such a long absence.

Jack is the NEXT Defender of the Shard Portal

• The series is over... yet Jack's still immortal. And he didn't even use the blue time portal. But what if it wasn't a time portal at all? What if it was something more? In the end, The Guardian was never defeated by Jack, and the prophecy of Jack coming back as a strangely dressed man never happened... yet. A time paradox has wiped out the original timeline. Which means The Guardian's existence has also been erased. But if that blue shard of incomprehensible power existed before all of this, it's going to need a new immortal to defend it...

The Empress is The Emperor's mother, and Jack's grandmother instead of his mother

• This line says it all:
  "Mother, Aku has returned!"

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